2nd killing in 24 hours occurs on city block

CRIME WATCH

February 20, 2007|By GUS G. SENTEMENTES

An unidentified man was gunned down yesterday on the same block in East Baltimore where another man had been slain less than 24 hours earlier, city police said.

The latest killing in the 1000 block of Branch Water Court - part of the Clay Courts Apartments - occurred about 11:30 a.m. The city Police Department could not provide details of the homicide or say whether detectives believed the two slayings might be related. The first victim, David Frasier, 26, of no fixed address, was found shot about 1 p.m. Sunday and later pronounced dead at Johns Hopkins Hospital.

For years, the apartments, north of the Johns Hopkins Hospital complex, had been troubled by drug dealing and violence. But in 2005, the privately owned apartments received a multimillion-dollar makeover, and city police officers patrolled the properties on foot while private security watched the area at night. It could not be determined yesterday whether such a security arrangement was still in place when the latest shootings occurred.